Zoological Society. a'SSfS 



in process of growth the normal thickness ; but while I feel natu- 

 rally cautious of introducing into my category any genera or species, 

 the establishment of which is not made fully satisfactory to my mind, 

 I must not be considered as rejecting any of those of Dr. Lund, 

 when his illustrations and lists of names are the only evidences I can 

 attain ; since his original specimens are far beyond my reach, and my 

 ignorance of the Danish language prevents my comprehending his de- 

 scriptive memoirs. 



Fam. 2. Dasypodid^. 



The nasal bones long, of nearly uniform width, their extremities 

 projecting forwards beyond the intermaxillaries ; the intermaxillaries 

 are portions of cylinders, reaching further especially on their palatal 

 surface than in the other families ; the maxillary bone swollen and 

 provided with simple teeth ; its zygomatic process projecting boldly 

 outwards, and a ridge continued from it for the masseter, the molar 

 series diverging behind ; the posterior palatine foramina are replaced 

 by a row of minute openings extending the whole length of the 

 palate ; the malar bone, when there is a descending masseteric pro- 

 cess, or a rudiment of one, has it compressed longitudinally, extended 

 transversely ; the foramen rotundum is included in the foramen sphe- 

 no-orbitarium ; the zygoma is fiat, gently tvdsted upwards towards 

 its extremity ; the mastoid bone with a deep narrow groove, con- 

 taining one or more mastoid foramina ; the basi-occipital bone with 

 a transverse depression just anteriorly to the edge of the foramen 

 magnum, and (excepting in the genera Tolypeutes and Ghjptodon) 

 with an articular surface upon the lower edge of that foramen 

 receiving the odontoid process of the axis when the head is deflexed ; 

 the occipital condyles are portions of cylinders, placed horizontally, 

 each in a line with the paroccipital process ; the precondyloid foramen 

 is placed close to the condyle ; the supra-occipital bone is broad above, 

 forming on each side a strong thickened ridge ; the lower jaw is 

 narrowed and slenderly produced anteriorly. 



The true affinities existing among the various Armadilloes have 

 been rightly perceived by the Baron Cuvier, and are well pointed out 

 in the ' Ossemens Fossiles' ; but he did not designate the subgenera 

 by any particular names, and naturalists, for the most part, have 

 adopted the arrangement of Mons. F. Cuvier, which limits the genus 

 Dasypus to the single species that has teeth in the intermaxillary 

 bone, and unites all the rest, excepting the Giant Armadillo, under 

 the generic name Tatusia. Mr. Gray, in the 'List of Specimens of 

 Mammalia in the British Museum,' has adopted in addition the 

 genus Xenurus of M'^agler, and it will be further necessary to make 

 use of Illiger's genus Tolypeutes for the Apara or Three-banded 

 Armadillo. The species villosus and mimitus nmst be associated, as 

 Baron Cuvier has done with the Encoubert in the genus Dasypus. 



The groups recognized in the ' Ossemens Fossiles ' being thus 

 restored and the names proposed by other authors appUed to them, 

 I shall proceed to characterize them by their external armour, by 

 which they may very easily be distinguished, and to add the cha- 



